


Tired of Waiting

by menel



Series: The 6-Word Prompt [4]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension, Understanding, Waiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menel/pseuds/menel
Summary: On the anniversary of Jean's death, Logan comes to the realization that he's tired of waiting.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [denelian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/denelian/gifts).



> For denelian, who reminded me how special this pairing is, and how encouraging readers can be. Thank you!

Logan trudged after Cyclops, keeping the team leader a consistent two meters in front of him. The sewage tunnel that they were in was large enough for them to walk upright, but the stench of the place was assaulting Logan’s senses. Sure, Logan had been in much worse places and he had no doubt that Cyclops had as well, but it was the goddamned _day_ that was weighing heavily on Logan, heightening the nausea of his surroundings.

It was exactly one year since Jean had sacrificed herself at Alkali Lake and the Boy Scout was behaving like it was any other day and that they were on another ordinary mission. The mission part was true enough: recon on a military base rumored to be pursuing mutant experimentation. He and Scott had gotten separated from Nightcrawler, Iceman and Shadowcat. Scott had ordered the three of them back to the Blackbird, giving coordinates for a rendezvous point away from the base. There had been some urgency for the team to leave, and the other three X-Men had been nearer to the Blackbird (not to mention that Kurt’s teleportation and Kitty’s phasing ability enabled the three of them to shortcut to the Blackbird if need be). Meanwhile, Scott had chosen the safer, but much longer and far smellier route out of the military base. The tunnel network was extensive, clearly meant to link up to the main sewage facility in the area. There was a disturbing convenience to the set-up, Logan thought, as though the military could simply wash away their dirty laundry, which is what Logan believed they did anyway. 

The trickling sound around them almost gave Logan the impression of light rain, except that rain wouldn’t smell this foul. They were following the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, except that Logan couldn’t see much of it, which meant that it was growing dark outside. He wondered what they would do if they didn’t make it out of the tunnel before nightfall. Trudging around in the dark didn’t appeal to him, and he didn’t think sewage tunnels had emergency lighting. Then he thought about Cyclops and wondered how the other man could see anything through his visor with the light already so low. 

“Hey,” he called out. 

Scott didn’t slow his pace. 

“Hey,” Logan said again, jogging a few quick steps to grasp the team leader by the arm. 

Scott finally halted, tensing in such a way that Logan knew he should let go of the other man. 

“What is it?” Scott asked in that formal, clipped tone that meant he was in no mood for Logan’s antics. 

Logan didn’t really have an answer. He wanted to talk to Scott, but didn’t know what to say, much less where to begin. He’d never been great at expressing himself verbally, and that difficulty was magnified by tenfold when he was dealing with Summers. The old saying, ‘Actions speak louder than words’ was emphatically true whenever Cyclops was concerned. It was one of the reasons why they made such an effective pair in the field. During missions and in combat scenarios, they understood each other intuitively, could communicate through gesture and action. But that’s where their camaraderie ended. Scott’s mantra was professionalism, and he had long ago earned Logan’s grudging respect. But unless they were saving the world, they couldn’t seem to get along.

Logan wanted to change that. _Had_ wanted to change that for some time. This unexpected excursion might prove to be the opportunity to do that, seeing as he wouldn’t have been able to get Summers alone in any other way, and certainly not on this particular day. But still…what should he say? 

“Yer sure you know where yer headed?” 

Logan inwardly groaned. The children thought of him as the big, bad Wolverine, but Summers could turn him into a goddamned pup. 

Scott’s smile was a little wry. “It’s a straight tunnel, Logan,” he answered, stating the painfully obvious and making Logan feel like an idiot in the process. 

“Could’ve made a wrong turn back there,” Logan countered, unwilling to back down from his admittedly weak position. 

“I didn’t.”

The words were said with finality and Scott resumed his walk. This time Logan kept pace beside him. So, his first attempt at engaging Cyclops had been a failure. Didn’t mean he couldn’t try again. 

“I know repression’s a specialty of yours,” Logan began. It was in his nature to be blunt, he reminded himself. “But if you wanna talk about it…” 

There was a long, tense silence and Logan figured that was the answer to his suggestion. But then, Summers surprised him. 

“Talk about what?” the other man said, so softly that it was almost a whisper. 

Logan genuinely couldn’t tell if Scott was playing dumb or was just making the whole thing purposefully harder on both of them. It was probably some combination of the two. They’d both mastered the art form of denial. 

“Unless ya have amnesia,” Logan retorted. “Ya can’t have forgotten what today is.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Scott stated so matter-of-factly that Logan wanted to rip his own hair out. “And neither has the rest of the team, judging by the way everyone is walking on eggshells around me,” he added. The _Everyone but you_ part remained unsaid. 

“So?” Logan prodded. 

“So, what?” 

At this, Logan stopped, grabbing Scott by the arm and forcing the other man to stop as well. “So, that’s it?” he demanded.

Scott’s cool demeanor didn’t falter. “I’m not sure what you expect here, Logan,” he said calmly. “You’re not my shrink.” 

“Would that be the Professor’s job?” Logan fired back. 

Scott took the jab in stride, tilting his head slightly as though he were studying Logan. He didn’t take the bait and Logan felt the pressure to fill the silence between them. 

“What I mean,” he said haltingly, not even sure he could formulate the right words. “What I mean is, you haven’t been yourself since Alkali Lake.” _Since Jean died._

Scott’s lips turned downwards in the faintest of frowns, but Logan could feel the displeasure rolling off of the other man. 

“It would be unreasonable to think that I’d be the same person after Alkali Lake,” Scott replied, still in his calm manner. “I think all of us changed after Alkali Lake.” 

“Yer probably right,” Logan admitted, reining in his mounting frustration. “But that’s also not what I meant.” 

He took Scott’s continuing silence as a sign that he should elaborate.

“Jean’s death may have changed all of us. But you? It’s been different with you.” 

“And how would you know that, Logan?” 

“I pay attention!” Logan suddenly snapped, slightly horrified that he’d just admitted to observing Summers closely. 

It was true. He’d always paid close attention to Summers, even before Jean. There was something about the other man that he’d found compelling right from the start, no matter how long it had taken him to come to terms with that attraction. He was _still_ coming to terms with that attraction.

“Ya haven’t moved on,” Logan finally said. “Sure yer functioning, doin’ everything that’s expected of you: you teach your classes, you train the team, you run the school, you go on missions.” He shook his head. “But yer just a shell, goin’ through the motions. That’s not living.” 

Scott fell silent again, his gaze directed at the wet tunnel floor. This silence was different. It had transformed from combative and standoffish to something more contemplative. Logan could tell that Summers was seriously considering his words and that was encouraging. 

“Jean wouldn’t want that for you.” 

That statement finally got Scott to look at him. Logan could tell by the angle of Scott’s jaw that he was directly in the other man’s line of sight.

“And what would you know about what Jean would want?” 

The question burned with the heat of their former rivalry. Logan wanted to tap down on that fire, not fan the flames. _This_ is what they needed to put behind them. It was the only way to move on. He ignored Summers’ question and pushed forward. 

“Ya know what I remember most about Alkali Lake?” he asked. 

Summers was stonewalling him again, his displeasure almost a physical force that Logan could feel. 

“It was that moment in the Blackbird,” Logan said softly. “Just after Jean had sacrificed herself and you were blinded by grief and desperation. Out of all the people in the Blackbird, do you remember who you turned to?”

Logan would swear that Scott’s gaze was boring into him. He couldn’t tell if his words were registering with the other man, but he persevered. 

“It was me,” Logan stated. “You turned to me. And I’ve been waiting, Scott, for you to realize that I’m here. That I’ve _always_ been here.” 

The cool Summers façade briefly cracked. “You make it sound as if you stayed –” 

“For you,” Logan cut him off. “I stayed for you. Yes,” he quickly went on before Scott could interrupt him. “I believe in the Professor’s dream. And yes, I wanted to make sure Marie and the rest of the kids were all right. But mostly,” he shrugged. “I stayed for you.”

Logan wanted Scott to see how far they had come in a year. How Logan had gone from being a wandering outsider to Scott’s right hand. Professionally, he was whatever Summers needed him to be, whenever Summers needed him. Didn’t Scott see that he could be more than that? That he _wanted_ to be more than that? 

“And I’m tired of waiting,” Logan finished.

Scott’s reaction was a total non-reaction. In typical Summers fashion, Logan couldn’t read the other man. The neutral, professional mask had slipped back into place. Even through the stench of the tunnel, Scott’s clean scent reached him, giving no sign of the other man’s surprise, shock, displeasure or perhaps disgust at Logan’s confession. It was maddening and frustrating, words that Logan often associated with Summers when they weren’t in the field or the Danger Room. 

Suddenly, in a movement so unexpected that Logan nearly stepped backwards, Scott had closed the distance between them, cupping Logan’s jaw with his gloved hand. He leaned forward and gave Logan a gentle kiss, the barest press of lips against lips. Logan had petrified into a statue, afraid that the moment was a figment of his imagination. When Scott pulled away, he was still gripping Logan’s jaw lightly. 

“Was that what you were waiting for?” he asked. 

“It’s a start,” Logan replied.

He detected the faintest air of amusement from the other man and then Scott was leaning in again. This time, Logan met him halfway. Their second kiss was more than just the gentle press of lips against lips, and it was Scott who made a pleased sound when Logan opened for him, the hand gripping Logan’s jaw sliding upwards to cradle his nape. Emboldened, Logan drew Scott closer, his right arm curling around the other man’s waist so that their bodies were flushed together. 

Their surroundings fell away; the stench that had assaulted Logan’s senses fading as he zeroed in on Summers’ taste (sparkling, like apple cider) and scent (clean, like morning dew) and touch (desire, magnified by months of longing). When was the last time he had kissed someone like this? When was the last time he had been with anyone at all? It was startling to think that he had been celibate for a year. Had he unconsciously been waiting for Scott all that time? 

The answer was ‘yes.’ It had been worth the wait, Logan thought, satisfied that the other man was just as breathless as he was when the kiss ended. Scott’s hand dropped to Logan’s chest, resting there for a moment before the team leader stepped away from him.

“We have about forty-five minutes to get to the rendezvous point,” Scott said, slipping on the persona of Cyclops. 

After a year of observing the other man like a hawk, Logan wasn’t surprised by the reaction. Professionalism was what Summers always turned to whenever he wanted to avoid something that wasn’t related to the X-Men or the school. But Logan wasn’t going to let him get away with it this time. Just as Scott was turning away, he reached out and grasped his hand. 

The action forced Summers to look at him. He didn’t let go, not even when Scott’s gaze traveled down to where their hands were joined before traveling back up to look at Logan again. Another silence stretched between them, but this was a different kind of standoff. Logan refused to back down. If anyone could out-stubborn Cyclops, it was him. 

“If we’re going to pursue this,” Scott said at last. “We’ll have to set up certain rules.” 

Logan knew that the smirk on his face was too self-satisfied. 

“This,” Scott went on, holding up their joined hands. “Would be breaking one of them.” 

“Ya can lecture me on the rules tomorrow, Cyke,” Logan replied, heading once more toward the tunnel exit and gently tugging the team leader with him. Scott automatically fell into step beside him, his grip firm around Logan’s hand. 

“No rules today.” 

 

**Fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> The merry mutants belong to Marvel and Fox. No offense is intended; no profit is being made.


End file.
